Precursor to Shellshock Chronicles Part 0 of VII: Dying Skies
by SOTNAEL
Summary: The beginning of a tragedy and what was born from a wish.


Prologue: Dying Skies

What is a "wish?" Is it what one seeks to achieve through hard work? Is it what we aspire to when we are children? Or is it perhaps what drives us to change the world around us, effectively linking us to the entity known as "Progression?"

And when we do progress, is it for the better? When Humans once gained the ability to understand the one next to them, did they not progress? When Humans gained the ability to interact with the world around them doing as they saw fit, did they not learn to change their surroundings? And when Humans first found that their endeavors failed and learned of the entity known as "Impossible, "Was their mind not flooded with questions?

"Why didn't this work?"

"What have I done wrong?"

"What can I do better?"

And most importantly; "If I can't do this, is there a way to do it?"

When a human is driven by that question, they will most assuredly do everything in their power to assure that they can achieve the goal. Sometimes it is for the better; sometimes it is for the worst. Good and Evil were born beside Impossible to set limiters on what Humans could (or should) aspire to achieve.

Through the ages however, Humans became stagnated by the limits they'd set for themselves and sought to achieve their dreams despite their fellow's ever-increasing objection to the other's outward desire.

Thus was born Difference and beside it, the bane of everything that peace stands for. Peace's antithesis; War.

Time marched on and man evolved, changing principle and tradition in the wake of the ever-shifting flow of time, garnering expediency and expectation to constantly surpass the expectations that came before it.

Humans stood at the pinnacle of progress, spurred on by the laurels they'd acquired—the accolades that they'd held for all to see. Yet, in the wake of everything that man had achieved, in the year, 2012, in the month of June and on the twenty-first night, at approximately 9:38 P.M; the moon loomed larger in the sky as if it were a massive advertisement. The air suddenly stopped blowing as if by a divine command it was beckoned to stop and for exactly one hundred and twenty seconds, the world was completely silent.

Then, at 9:40 P.M, The sky turned light orchid red alongside the moon, which turned a gnarled angry crimson with a pitch-black outline. Then, the quakes started. There was no gradual build up to herald the coming of calamity; the quakes began and violently shook the planet, toppling buildings collapsing entire countries in mere weeks. There was no cessation to the splitting as Earth herself gave into the quake, offering death to those who weren't quick enough to escape the fissures that it generated.

No one offered aid to those who could not aid themselves. It was pure, primeval chaos. People scrambled to escape the collapse and those who were successful were unable to decide what to do next, their whole way of life taken from them in an instant by the sudden tectonic destruction that ensued.

The chaos did not subside however and the human collective braced for extinction. However, at the last second, on July ninth, 2012, the quake froze, a blinding light covered the land and as if it never happened, everything and everyone that died and was destroyed in the aftermath of the tumultuous quake was restored to their proper place.

Truly a stark reminder that anything we may possess could be taken away in an instant. And yet… it could also be said that it is also a reminder that no matter what happens, we must never lose hope or give into despair.

Thus, it was that from that day onward those two unforgettable days would never be lost to the annals of history. These were known by two names. In the destruction, humanity was tested in the quakes that pushed their will to survive. This test would become known to the younger generation as The Nights of the Dying Skies because of the ever-present red moon that sat there like a beacon of doom that bled that awful red light across the sky as a blotch of corruption.

The Flash of the End (or The Flash of the Goddess) as the wisest alive at the time dubbed it, so was it named so because the essence that saved humanity was a bright, all-encompassing light that ended and reversed The Nights of the Dying Skies and was a testament that hope existed for all—not just the innocent and faithful. And yet…


End file.
